As the demand for microfabrication of semiconductor devices or MEMS increases, not only a conventional photolithography technology but also a microfabrication technology in which an uncured resin on a substrate is molded by a mold to thereby form a resin pattern on the substrate have been receiving attention. This technology is also referred to as an “imprint technology”, by which a fine structure with dimensions of a few nanometers can be formed on a substrate. One example of imprint technologies includes a photo-curing method. An imprint apparatus employing the photo-curing method first applies an ultraviolet curable resin (imprint material, photocurable resin) to a shot area (imprint area) on a substrate (wafer). Next, the resin (uncured resin) is molded by a mold. After the ultraviolet curable resin is irradiated with ultraviolet light for curing, the cured resin is released from the mold, whereby a resin pattern is formed on the substrate.
In the imprint apparatus employing the technology, it is preferable that an uncured resin is advantageously filled in a fine concave and convex pattern formed in a mold upon pressing the mold against the resin on a substrate, whereas a releasing force is reduced as much as possible upon releasing the mold from the cured resin. In contrast, Non-Patent Literature 1 discloses a method for supplying a specific gas (pentafluoropropane) to a gap between the mold and the resin on the wafer during imprint processing to thereby achieve improvement in filling property and mold-release property described above. However, Non-Patent Literature 1 does not take into account imprint processing for the region of the end of the wafer. For example, in a series of manufacturing steps of manufacturing a semiconductor device, if a resin pattern is not always formed up to a portion that extends to the same distance from the end of the substrate, the entire substrate cannot be subjected to uniform processing in the subsequent manufacturing steps, resulting in a reduction in the yield of devices on the entire substrate. Likewise, a reduction in the yield of devices occurs in the manufacturing steps using an exposure apparatus. Here, Patent Literature 1 discloses an immersion exposure apparatus in which a coplanar plate with a height (surface height) equivalent to the level of the surface of a wafer is disposed on the outside of the wafer placed on a wafer stage. Also in the immersion exposure apparatus, differences may occur between devices manufactured at the end of the wafer and the central portion thereof due to the entrapment of air bubbles from the gap between the end of the wafer and the coplanar plate, resulting in a reduction in the yield of devices on the entire wafer. Accordingly, in the immersion exposure apparatus disclosed in Patent Literature 1, water is actively supplied into the gap so as to suppress the entrapment of air bubbles. Consequently, uniform devices are formed even at the end of the wafer, and thus, a reduction in yield is suppressed.